Turn19

The Hobbits Acquitted.

At Raigorn's house...

Arekhel climbs the stairs next to the kitchen door. She looks around to see if Meraina is somewhere to be seen. She finds the other woman still in the upstairs room looking at a scrawny piece of parchment. As Arekhel's interest is piqued and she crosses the room, making the floorboards creek, Meraina looks up.
"Ah, Arekhel. Elves are known for their scholarly pursuits I think. Would you help me to read this note I happen to have? It's in a language that I don't know how to read unfortunately..."

Arekhel shrugs: "Sure. I'm not doing anything else at the moment." She scrutinizes the scrawled words on the note. There are many smudges for it seems to be written in charcoal. After a moment Arekhel admits, "Actually I can't read it. I'm not really that good at languages. It's certainly not written in any I know. Maybe someone else might, like Heladil. Sorry."
The Elf woman suddenly hears Relg go through the kitchen door dowstairs. She hesitates for a moment then says:
"Uh, sorry. I wanted to speak to Relg before he goes." She turns and heads down to the kitchen but doesn't intrude when he begin's talking to Lochan...

Relg knocks on the door of the kitchen, pauses then enters. He is a little surprised at first to see Elinor crying but swiftly turns back to the reason for his appearance, namely Lochan and ignores the young girl from then on.

"Ah, I wished to speak with you, sir. You know who am I after I introduced myself. May I ask who you are, I think I missed your introduction earlier."

Lochan pauses for a moment (as if collecting his thoughts), "I made no introduction earlier, my name is Lochan MacAthlor. Your name is Relg, and your people are the Gargath. Is that right?"

Relg's attitude seems harsh somehow, but as he continues, it becomes clear that he does not intend to offend Lochan in any way:
"Your words earlier were the ones of a true warrior. I would be glad to have someone like you with us, when we follow and hunt down these Szreldor. It's important that we get as many of the warriors here as we can to join us, so that we can persuade Raigorn of the value of chasing the Szreldor. I have three men with me and could maybe organise more. I do not know how many of the others will go but at least some, like that Gwalchmai, would wish to go.
Do you think Draigen would be interested also?"

"Many thanks," answers the other, "but I am not yet free to do as I wish. I am assigned to the village militia and it seems that I do not know what Raigorn might suggest," he glances towards Elinor for a moment. "No doubt this, and other matters will be decided at the War Council. As for Draigens interest," the Ranger shrugs, "I cannot say. Lord Mahdhricks bodyguards are not part of the militia, so I do not know him well."

Relg nods, then asks a some further questions:
"I assume you know that stranger with the name Sealvach? That dispute of yours made it appear as such. Tell me more about him. Is he serious about his decision? Could he be persuaded to join us?"

Lochans seems to tense a little at the question but answers in his usual manner, "I know something about Sealvach but there are no certainties. As for his decision, well you have already heard my opinion. Is he serious? I do not know but he has never broken his word to anybody that I know off."

As Relg mulls over these words, Lochan takes the opportunity to walk back to Lady Elinor and offers his hand to her:
"Lady you are kind to dress these wounds, I am grateful to you", he smiles a little to cheer her up and encourage her not to dwell on things too much. "I must go to the barracks now to sort out Targon, my colleague's return. Valdo would have forgotten because of the interrogation."

She at first ignores him, then finally gives a deep sniff and allows him to help her up. He squeezes here hand reassuringly and adds "Remember what I said about your place here, your example will influence others a great deal. I must go now. I will speak with you again later."

He returns to where Relg stands as Arekhel walks into the room, apparently looking for the Gargath leader. She goes towards him, smiles and puts her hand lightly on his arm. "I know you are very concerned about the Szreldor, but could I have some words in private with you?" <she casts a glance at Lochan and Elinor>. He nods and they step outside into the hall.

"Relg, I am sorry if I repeat myself but, I have something to ask you, something which has been puzzling me for a while...since I met you, in fact. WHY did you say you knew me?" <a little wave of anxiety floats in her eyes, panic? Relg could not say.> "I have never seen you in my life before. Aren't you mistaking me for someone else?"

"I would tell you if I knew. Your eyes seem to be familiar to me, that is all I can say. You are from the Elven people - don't you have the ability to appear in other people's dreams?"
<The doubt, one could almost say uncertainty, which appears in the Warseekers eyes for only a second, vanishes.> "This is a time of war and we don't have time for such questions. Are you coming along with us to follow these Szreldor? If I were you, I wouldn't, however... " Again, his voice clearly shows respect mixed perhaps with a little awe of the unknown, Relg has for the Elven people. "... if someone from your folk would be with us, it would mean good luck for us."

At that moment, Lochan appears once more:
"I'm going to the barracks, Sir. Do you care to join me?"

"Ok, lets go to the Barracks. Time is fast running out."

As they leave the building, Coru and another, older Gargath appear, coming up the street, leading their horses. Coru is the first to speak:
"Well, well Relg. Have you come to a decision yet? I'm growing weary of this town-life with the discussions and planning with people of high rank. Shall we get something done for ourselves, or wait until the Szreldor find another settlement they can burn and violate? Like I told Maleg here, there are people in this town I don't wish to share a campfire with. But I also realise that we haven't exactly the strength to hunt down a warband of that size alone. So I guess the final decision is for you to make." Coru waits with arms folded. Maleg, the other warrior, shrugs and watches his leader, indifferent but aware of the others that walk with Relg. His eyes look the tall Elven woman up and down and glance at the other woman by her but his attention is held more with the battered appearance of the local man beside them.

"There are times, my friend, when we must not fight to the bitter end, but seek company." says Relg to his more impulsive subordinate. "And don't judge the people you have met by their outlook. Take the small people as an example. I saw them standing against Meraina and they proved their braveness, even though they would not have survived more than a second."
Relg takes Coru by the shoulder and continues: "Our time will come, Coru. I promise that you will count more dead enemies than you can think of."
He then turns to Maleg: "I see you are back! Well done my friend. Have you seen in which direction the enemy moved?"

Maleg straightens in deference to his leader. "I did not War-leader. I secured the enemy horse as instructed and withdrew to the woods to await your return as appointed, however, the Szreldor were fast to find the trail and I had to retreat against greater numbers. I thought it more beneficial to hinder their journey and give us greater profit than purely to dip my blade in their life-blood."

Relg laughs loudly and says:
"Very good! I knew I could count on you. If we only had more like you and Coru, we would hunt these Szreldor dogs down and they even would not now why they were dying."
Relg then explains what has been happening in the village and finishes with the words:
"The leader of this village is badly injured and I don't know if he will survive. Raigorn is now in command and if we can persuade him and some others to join us following the Szreldor then we may be able to stop them. But what we feared since quite some time seems to be true. The Szreldor get help from some dark force and maybe we are facing a battle far worse that we can imagine. It is not our problem but the slaves from this village and others are destined for the slave markets of Szrel Arkasa. We have time to catch up with that warband. But what ever will come, either we will win or we will die in battle. You see, there is nothing we have to fear."
Saying this, Relg bursts out again into loud laughter. Only Maleg joins him in mirth.

Meanwhile, in the village guardhouse...

Raddish is the first to answer Lorrelinde's questions:
"First, I will answer about the man. I really don't remember anything of him, except for the voice, that seemed like that of an old man... I was scared and I don't remember, perhaps my friend Billy could tell you something more..." He shrugs and waits for his companion to respond.

Billy, seeing no way out of the situation without saying something, bows deeply and begins:
"My lord, the man that helped us seemed like an older man, with a deep
voice. He was wearing a patched cloak with many different materials sewed on it, perhaps to cover holes in the cloak, or to make a cloak out of spare cloth that no-one wanted, I am not sure. I seem to recall that his eyes were blue, or perhaps bluish, but it was dark and we didn't have a torch then. And finally I would like to add that the man seemed to talk in an oddly old fashioned accent. Not like anyone in this room, anyway."

Turning to Lorrelinde he adds:
"I cannot be absolutely sure about the information I have just told you, but as far as I can remember it is accurate."

Froin looks at Billy and Raddish as the questioning continues. Then to Lorrelinde to see her expression as she whispers to Raigorn. Muttering under his breath, the Dwarf says:
"My efforts may prove to be worthless...but it was something I had to do. Remember that."

Looking around, at as many people as he can see without moving from his position Billy speaks once again:
"NOW, does any of you know this man? For as sure as I am standing here, this man showed us to the door and is probably responsible for unlocking it. Instead of interrogating us, you should try to find this man. We have returned here to try to help, we got scared when the Szreldor attacked. I hope no-one blames us for that. When things quieten down we went back to try to help this town, to try to help YOU."

Billy stops looking out at the people around him and with a snap turns and points (rather rudely) at the Watch Commander.
"We hoped that we could be of assistance and now you accuse us of this," he adds.

Billy lowers his finger and tries to hold his imposing posture, but fails. The speech has summoned most of his energy and it ends with a quiet sob. Many in the room who would otherwise be set against the two cannot help but feel sorry for these little people, trapped as they are in a strange town. Lorrelinde whispers once more to Raigorn for a moment as the Hobbit's await their fate. She then nods and then helps Raigorn to his feet.

The acting Lord of Buhr Criocha surveys all who await his words in the room, taking his time before he announces judgement...

"People, listen. You have heard fair answers given to fair questions. Not all of this matter is understood yet but we shall soon see what we shall believe. Now picture this: <he steps to one side of the table and every eye in the room watches for him to speak again>
'The night is a cold one and the guard on watch huddles atop the roof of this building, keeping the watchfire alight, warming his hands perhaps. Now, while he does this, the other guards not in these very rooms are out doing their usual rounds. It is shortly before dawn. At some point...the guard on watch is overcome by surprising drowsyness, surprising because he has slept fully before taking his appointed watch. He falls asleep conveniently not noticing the waver of torches on the horizon. Elsewhere in the village, these two Hobbit's <he gestures towards them> are out...perhaps for a stroll, it is a clear night and they may find it hard to sleep - whatever! They are out and they are spotted by a guard with dog. The dog barks and for some reason, these gentlemen Hobbit's are overcome with fright at the sound and turn to flee. The guard - naturally- gives chase for when he calls out to them to stay, they take no heed and rush headlong down the alleys until the are lost and find themselves by the west postern door - conveniently.
Now let me explain a fact to those members of the militia just joining us, the key to that postern door is not in its rightful place. In fact, since Valdo cannot remember it being used at all these past months it has to be assumed that it has disappeared at any time over that period. Now large iron keys like that one do not just fall off the peg and disappear. They have to be taken! So until we find out who took the key, we cannot assume that the Hobbit's have taken them. Since it is against our law to search an Ambassador of another people without good cause we just have to assume that the Hobbit's don't have that key and since Valdo is adamant that he has never allowed either of them into his office without an officer present, it seems unlikely that they are the culprits. So," he pauses and Raddish lets out a small sigh of relief. "Our thoughts naturally turn to the tale of this hooded man. Now Lorrelinde claims that this man does indeed exist and has been seen lurking around the village for some days. Never causing much notice, he rarely stays in one place long enough for people to comment about him. Nevertheless any of you may well have come across him so think hard. But as most of you are aware, this stranger could not easily enter this guardhouse and lift a key from the Captain's office without someone noticing so we must ask ourselves again, who obtained the key to open the gate and how did the old man somehow know that the door would be open? Is it just coincidence therefore that these events occurred on the night that a Szreldor warband of eighty strong had chosen to attack this small village?"

Frowning, Raigorn waits to see his words sink in to the assembled crowd. As he begins to speak once more, Relg and the rest arrive behind Heladil and Froin.

They can just about hear what the Watch Commander has to say:
"And another thing. This barbarian warrior you see standing by the door is non other than the grandson of MacGwaeroth who I served with for many a year in the south. Since today he is one of us and I charge you to treat him with all due respect from now on. Valdo, we shall gauge the extent of his marshal skills in due course but from now on he is one of the militiamen. Since either this hooded man or the real thieving culprit has no doubt left the settlement long before now, we shall just have to track him down by other methods. For the time being we have work to do. Valdo, I want the guards on the palisade wall reinforced and no-one is to leave the village without me knowing. Find a way to lock that damned door and keep it locked. Onar, take Gwalchmai to the stores and get him fitted out with any gear he requires. Brannd, get that list of casualties, available horses and those militiamen still with some fight left in them and round them up here. We hold a war council in fifteen minutes. Oh, and inform all guards that some Gargath will be joining us in this venture so treat them as you would your own. Now, Lorrelinde, I would ask you to join me for a moment in my office." He moves slowly around the table towards the steps leading to the first room and the guards scatter to their assigned tasks. The group hurriedly get out of the way for him also as Lorrelinde says:
"Yes but what about the Hobbits Watch Commander?"

"Ah yes. The Hobbits." He turns back towards the two at the far end of the room. "You are acquited of your actions in this matter since we have no proof that either of you have committed a crime save for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. You are both free to roam the village for the time being. Since we cannot let anyone leave until we have some better answers, you should be quite safe here. Guards, let them be and report to Valdo for new duties." He turns once more towards the Healer, effectively finishing the interrogation of the Hobbit's. "Now, if I may receive some attention, Lorrelinde?"

The Healer woman smiles quietly to herself and ushers Raigorn through the huddled group of people into the smaller office. As he passes, each gets a close look at the extent of his injuries. Although the holes in his chainmail vest are small, the amount of dried gore embedded in the links across his chest and back looks quite severe and each must be giving him great pain. He lowers himself gingerly into the wide chair behind a rough cut wood desk and waves for Lorrelinde to begin undoing the leather straps that hold his armour about his torso. Leaning forward to help the woman, he looks through the door to where Relg, Froin and the others stand. "So. What do you others want?"

Meanwhile, at the Frosty Mug...

Sealvach suddenly returns to full alertness, although he continues to stare at the table and his cards, apparently unconcerned by his momentary lapse. He begins to listen intently as the locals argue over the behaviour of the Elf he assumes must be Heladil. He allows a wry smile to cross his face at the wild stories which he remembers were told about him when he first journeyed forth into the land of Men. He reflects briefly on the strange daydream that had overtaken him a few moments before, pondering its significance. Deep down, something is troubling him about this whole episode, almost from the time he entered the town. Sadness for the loss of others? Surely not he thinks, and yet...has he not found the sort of peace here that he has craved for so long? Being able to walk the streets without watching the shadows?
Carefully the Gambler packs his cards away, straightens his hat and stands up. Walking over to the bar, he motions to Galgwen for a mug of ale. The locals stop their heated exchange of stories for a moment and move away surreptitiously from where he stands, watching him sidelong and uneasily. Sealvach ignores them and instead claps the Dwarf on the shoulder:
"I believe I owe you a drink. Best enjoy it - I think the fun's only just beginning..."

As Boldor decides whether to rebuke or thank him, the Gambler tips the brim of his hat to the barwoman and strides from the inn to his horse, where he checks that his bow is securely stowed and that the arrows are all in good order. It appears that Balneg has returned all the remaining horses to the stablehouse once more and Sealvach's horses bridle, saddle and packs are all present on a shelf above the stall. He then walks round to the front of the inn, noticing the swarthy inkeeper on the roof who mutters and scratches his head at the damage caused by the fire. Sealvach takes a seat in front of the inn, ignorant of the cold wind which has whipped up, pulls the brim of his hat down over his face and waits. He's sure it won't be long until someone or something comes to spoil his peace so he settles down, determined to enjoy it while he can.

End of Turn 19.